144 
OPERATIONS FOR JULY. 
disposed with that taste which has such a powerful effect on the eye of the 
spectator. Hence, if employed at a fitting period, the greatest possible amount of 
support will scarcely seem disagreeable ; while any attempts to reduce plants to 
order after they have taken a shape contrary to the one proposed, will inevitably 
betray their nature and faults. It is a simple direction, but one which all evidently 
do not at present follow, and which will certainly be of use to some amateurs, that 
the matting employed for tying plants to trellises or stakes should always be pretty 
tightly twisted at the time of application, which equally assists in concealing it 
and adds to its strength. 
In greenhouses, stoves, and other erections containing plants, (save, perhaps, the 
pits where those Orchidacese now in a growing state are kept,) we would at once 
bring into action all the means of ventilation that are possessed, in order, with the 
summer heat common at this season, to ripen the young wood that has just been 
formed. Greenhouses, indeed, that have front or side moveable lights, can well 
dispense with these at the present time. Drought is the great thing to be avoided 
during this month, and all moisture-loving plants, such as mimuluses, begonias, 
gloxinias, balsams, and hundreds of other tribes whose habits are generally known, 
may be appropriately furnished with pans of water beneath the pots, by which 
their necessities can be more constantly supplied. The objection that attaches to 
such vessels for common use, is nullified by the extreme evaporation that now takes 
place. 
Syringing should never be disregarded in any plant-houses at this season. The 
natural aridity of the air operates so strongly on the leaves of vegetation, that the 
mere sprinkling of their surface of an evening refreshes them exceedingly. Added 
to which, dust, which is now generally troublesome, accumulates on the foliage, 
and does incalculable harm. And beyond even these considerations, there is the 
notorious fact that the red spider — that pest of plant-stoves — abounds most in a 
dry atmosphere, and is most readily repelled by moisture. The use of a garden - 
engine will frequently, moreover, be of service to climbers on walls, for the reasons 
above given ; but it must not be violently exercised where the plants are 
blossoming. 
The roots and branches of Pelargoniums are now to be trimmed and primed, 
when they may be repotted into small pots, and placed in a frame or pit where a 
warm, moist atmosphere is maintained. Calceolarias, too, may be separated and 
potted as soon as their blossoms die. A few of the smaller plants of each should 
have their flower-stalks cut off, and be plunged in the pots into a border shaded by 
a wall, so that only the early morning or late evening sun shines on them. In this 
situation they will bloom again in a few weeks, and if the first buds are taken 
away, they will produce a tolerable effect about the month of September, when they 
must be transferred to the greenhouse. 
